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I think IRC does half or more of this. Usually there are channels for specific things with a lot of varied experience and expertise. For instance in the #xml ch

I think IRC does half or more of this. Usually there are channels for specific things with a lot of varied experience and expertise. For instance in the #xml channel on Freenode, some very heavy hitters in the XML world frequent the channel. It also allows you to contribute back for the more basic questions that might get asked. I like the personal contact in the abstract but it suffers from huge latency (have to wait a long time for an event and my questions probably don't last that long), and doesn't scale across domains e.g. In the #drools channel, I can talk to the guy that implemented the Defeasible logic decision plugin.

akurilin 9y ago
It's hard to overstate the value I've gotten out of Freenode IRC over the years. The #postgresql channel is chock-full of contributors and PG gurus willing to generously spend time explaining concepts and best practices. A real gem. Same thing with #clojure and #haskell . ##networking is great as well. Pretty amazing to drop into the same channel for 6-7 years in a row and see the same faces every time. One of the first things I used to teach devs on our team was how to ask questions on IRC to get the answers they were looking for. When you're working with niche tooling, building personal connections and relying on the community becomes irreplaceable. Wish people IRCed mode, wonder what the trend with that has been recently with Slack taking over.
- komali2 9y ago
  I still am not sure the best way to "IRC," I remember back in the day having it running in a program on Windows but lordy knows what the "preferred" method is now. I've noticed that StackOverflow now has a chat feature which is very IRC-ish and relatively helpful, if a bit empty at times.
  - arca_vorago 9y ago
    I prefer command-line irc from a vps, I use erc because I'm an emacs fella, but I've enjoyed irssi as well. Don't forget to cloak whenever possible!
  - david-s 9y ago
    I've found IRCCloud to be nice. Browser-based.
  - molloy 9y ago
    The "preferred" method is to use some sort of bouncer (znc) along with running a CLI client (irssi, weechat) in a session manager (screen, tmux) on a remote server. Weechat includes its own bouncer, and I would recommend somebody to start with it over irssi. I only fairly recently switched to weechat from znc + irssi because I wanted to try weechat.el as I wasn't happy with the state of using screen in eshell, and I don't have it as configured as my irssi was yet but I'm happy with it. Next up, switching to tmux from screen...
    - Rondom 9y ago
      Quassel is also an alternative, for those that prefer a GUI-client
  - jstanley 9y ago
    The great thing about the "protocols instead of services" design philosophy is that there is nobody to tell you what the "preferred" method is, you just use whatever you prefer. For infrequent use, perhaps try Freenode webchat: http://webchat.freenode.net/ http://webchat.freenode.net/
  - unixhero 9y ago
    "Preferred" way to IRC is to run a client just like you did in your yesteryears. Nothing ever changed.
  - ori_b 9y ago
    > but lordy knows what the "preferred" method is now. Who is this 'lordy', and why are they telling you what your preferences are? IRC is just a protocol. You can use the old clients you used to use[1], keep a command line client running in a screen session on some vps[2]some shiny web based client[3], or you can write your own in a couple of days if none of the other options appeal to you. I took the last option[4] [1] https://hexchat.github.io/ https://hexchat.github.io/ [2] https://irssi.org/ https://irssi.org/ [3] https://kiwiirc.com/ https://kiwiirc.com/ [4] https://eigenstate.org/software/ircmyr https://eigenstate.org/software/ircmyr
  - Doxin 9y ago
    The first step up people generally make from the webchat is something simple like hexchat, although I don't know what the state of windows binaries is these days. Used to be that you could only get precompiled windows binaries by paying.
- atmosx 9y ago
  Mostly the same thing. Many have bridges between the two. Some features don’t work though. Also on Slack, many use their real names/pics and the communities seem more friendly compare to IRC, at least for now.
  - samstave 9y ago
    Invite to these slacks please
- ziikutv 9y ago
  > Pretty amazing to drop into the same channel for 6-7 years in a row and see the same faces every time. This... shout outs to darkf, nedbat and aria from Node JS It amazes me how these people continue to help others and blessed to have them repeatedly help me on so many occasions
- 0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
  I wish self important mean nerds, who were abused in school, IRCed less. #python and #golang have become horrible, at least last I checked.
  - akurilin 9y ago
    This does happen a bunch. I was always dreading asking question in #nginx back in the day, and #bash could be pretty rough too, but you learn to grow a thick skin.
    - 0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
      Well #golang is a good test for thick skin. I thought mine was thick, but no.
  - pritishc 9y ago
    Isn't this wish rather selfish as well? Rather than spending time, becoming a contributor yourself and effectively showing them a better way, you want them to disappear.
    - 0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
      It is. Have you done that? Does it work?
      - pritishc 9y ago
        Becoming the example that people want to emulate? Yes, it does work, but it's a lot harder. The key is to do it in little increments everyday. The more influence you have, the more you'll be able to sway a person's opinion. Growing this organically is the challenge.
- avinium 9y ago
  #clojure, #machinelearning and #math on Freenode have been fantastic resources. I always try and encourage people to use IRC over Slack (which I've found to be a bit of a timewaster).
  - Double_a_92 9y ago
    What I personally don't like about IRC is that you basically have to be online all the time (or at least have some bouncer)... Otherwise you can't scroll up and read what's going on, if there are people already talking about something. Also this creates to long lists of idlying people, so you can't really have an overview of who's really online there.
MaxLeiter 9y ago
And that’s what I love about IRC — if there’s a topic I’m interested in, I can hop into freenode and find a channel focused on it.
danielvinson 9y ago
The target of this service is very much NOT people who would know how to use IRC and know where to go on IRC to ask a question, nor is the type of question which this service is aiming to answer easy to ask over text.
- dsr_ 9y ago
  We used to have college freshmen learn to use IRC by seeing someone else using it and getting a five minute "here's how". I think the missing part is "seeing someone else using it".
- herbst 9y ago
  If this is the target audience. Who will be there to help?
- jimmaswell 9y ago
  What kind of programmer can't figure out how to use IRC?
tshedor 9y ago
Valid points, absolutely. IRC and Freenode are great...if you're already in tech. About every third freelance client I speak with needs help with simple stuff - understanding how to get a host. Understanding how to point DNS to a service like Squarespace. They don't have that one tech friend to help them or know where to ask for help, despite the constant and saturated availability of chat rooms/forums. So while we'll provide dev-to-dev mentoring, I really hope we reach this audience too.
pavel_lishin 9y ago
I think there's a flipside to that latency, though - you may have to wait awhile, but once you connect, there's almost zero latency. When you're face to face with a person, you're not wondering if they stepped away from the keyboard to get a cup of coffee, or investigate whether their cat knocked over a christmas tree, or if their internet went down. You know their work didn't just page them with a critical error. The conversation goes much faster once it starts.
klibertp 9y ago
> my questions probably don't last that long If they don't last that long they were not worth bothering other people with, in the first place. Do your job yourself before asking for help. I mean, programming is a knowledge-based job and you're expected to be able to learn on your own. It's not bad to ask for help once you honestly did your best and still cannot understand something, but giving up in the first paragraph of a man page and hitting IRC immediately is all kinds of bad.

akurilin 9y ago

It's hard to overstate the value I've gotten out of Freenode IRC over the years. The #postgresql channel is chock-full of contributors and PG gurus willing to generously spend time explaining concepts and best practices. A real gem. Same thing with #clojure and #haskell . ##networking is great as well. Pretty amazing to drop into the same channel for 6-7 years in a row and see the same faces every time. One of the first things I used to teach devs on our team was how to ask questions on IRC to get the answers they were looking for. When you're working with niche tooling, building personal connections and relying on the community becomes irreplaceable. Wish people IRCed mode, wonder what the trend with that has been recently with Slack taking over.

komali2 9y ago
I still am not sure the best way to "IRC," I remember back in the day having it running in a program on Windows but lordy knows what the "preferred" method is now. I've noticed that StackOverflow now has a chat feature which is very IRC-ish and relatively helpful, if a bit empty at times.
- arca_vorago 9y ago
  I prefer command-line irc from a vps, I use erc because I'm an emacs fella, but I've enjoyed irssi as well. Don't forget to cloak whenever possible!
- david-s 9y ago
  I've found IRCCloud to be nice. Browser-based.
- molloy 9y ago
  The "preferred" method is to use some sort of bouncer (znc) along with running a CLI client (irssi, weechat) in a session manager (screen, tmux) on a remote server. Weechat includes its own bouncer, and I would recommend somebody to start with it over irssi. I only fairly recently switched to weechat from znc + irssi because I wanted to try weechat.el as I wasn't happy with the state of using screen in eshell, and I don't have it as configured as my irssi was yet but I'm happy with it. Next up, switching to tmux from screen...
  - Rondom 9y ago
    Quassel is also an alternative, for those that prefer a GUI-client
- jstanley 9y ago
  The great thing about the "protocols instead of services" design philosophy is that there is nobody to tell you what the "preferred" method is, you just use whatever you prefer. For infrequent use, perhaps try Freenode webchat: http://webchat.freenode.net/ http://webchat.freenode.net/
- unixhero 9y ago
  "Preferred" way to IRC is to run a client just like you did in your yesteryears. Nothing ever changed.
- ori_b 9y ago
  > but lordy knows what the "preferred" method is now. Who is this 'lordy', and why are they telling you what your preferences are? IRC is just a protocol. You can use the old clients you used to use[1], keep a command line client running in a screen session on some vps[2]some shiny web based client[3], or you can write your own in a couple of days if none of the other options appeal to you. I took the last option[4] [1] https://hexchat.github.io/ https://hexchat.github.io/ [2] https://irssi.org/ https://irssi.org/ [3] https://kiwiirc.com/ https://kiwiirc.com/ [4] https://eigenstate.org/software/ircmyr https://eigenstate.org/software/ircmyr
- Doxin 9y ago
  The first step up people generally make from the webchat is something simple like hexchat, although I don't know what the state of windows binaries is these days. Used to be that you could only get precompiled windows binaries by paying.
atmosx 9y ago
Mostly the same thing. Many have bridges between the two. Some features don’t work though. Also on Slack, many use their real names/pics and the communities seem more friendly compare to IRC, at least for now.
- samstave 9y ago
  Invite to these slacks please
ziikutv 9y ago
> Pretty amazing to drop into the same channel for 6-7 years in a row and see the same faces every time. This... shout outs to darkf, nedbat and aria from Node JS It amazes me how these people continue to help others and blessed to have them repeatedly help me on so many occasions
0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
I wish self important mean nerds, who were abused in school, IRCed less. #python and #golang have become horrible, at least last I checked.
- akurilin 9y ago
  This does happen a bunch. I was always dreading asking question in #nginx back in the day, and #bash could be pretty rough too, but you learn to grow a thick skin.
  - 0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
    Well #golang is a good test for thick skin. I thought mine was thick, but no.
- pritishc 9y ago
  Isn't this wish rather selfish as well? Rather than spending time, becoming a contributor yourself and effectively showing them a better way, you want them to disappear.
  - 0xdeadbeefbabe 9y ago
    It is. Have you done that? Does it work?
    - pritishc 9y ago
      Becoming the example that people want to emulate? Yes, it does work, but it's a lot harder. The key is to do it in little increments everyday. The more influence you have, the more you'll be able to sway a person's opinion. Growing this organically is the challenge.
avinium 9y ago
#clojure, #machinelearning and #math on Freenode have been fantastic resources. I always try and encourage people to use IRC over Slack (which I've found to be a bit of a timewaster).
- Double_a_92 9y ago
  What I personally don't like about IRC is that you basically have to be online all the time (or at least have some bouncer)... Otherwise you can't scroll up and read what's going on, if there are people already talking about something. Also this creates to long lists of idlying people, so you can't really have an overview of who's really online there.

MaxLeiter 9y ago

And that’s what I love about IRC — if there’s a topic I’m interested in, I can hop into freenode and find a channel focused on it.

danielvinson 9y ago

The target of this service is very much NOT people who would know how to use IRC and know where to go on IRC to ask a question, nor is the type of question which this service is aiming to answer easy to ask over text.

dsr_ 9y ago
We used to have college freshmen learn to use IRC by seeing someone else using it and getting a five minute "here's how". I think the missing part is "seeing someone else using it".
herbst 9y ago
If this is the target audience. Who will be there to help?
jimmaswell 9y ago
What kind of programmer can't figure out how to use IRC?

tshedor 9y ago

Valid points, absolutely. IRC and Freenode are great...if you're already in tech. About every third freelance client I speak with needs help with simple stuff - understanding how to get a host. Understanding how to point DNS to a service like Squarespace. They don't have that one tech friend to help them or know where to ask for help, despite the constant and saturated availability of chat rooms/forums. So while we'll provide dev-to-dev mentoring, I really hope we reach this audience too.

pavel_lishin 9y ago

I think there's a flipside to that latency, though - you may have to wait awhile, but once you connect, there's almost zero latency. When you're face to face with a person, you're not wondering if they stepped away from the keyboard to get a cup of coffee, or investigate whether their cat knocked over a christmas tree, or if their internet went down. You know their work didn't just page them with a critical error. The conversation goes much faster once it starts.

klibertp 9y ago

> my questions probably don't last that long If they don't last that long they were not worth bothering other people with, in the first place. Do your job yourself before asking for help. I mean, programming is a knowledge-based job and you're expected to be able to learn on your own. It's not bad to ask for help once you honestly did your best and still cannot understand something, but giving up in the first paragraph of a man page and hitting IRC immediately is all kinds of bad.